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Umm Salamah bint Abi Umayyah — The Mother of the Believers Who Counseled the Prophet at Hudaybiyya, Transmitted 378 Hadith, and Outlived All Other Wives of the Prophet

أُمُّ سَلَمَةَ بِنتُ أَبِي أُمَيَّةَ — أُمُّ المُؤمِنِينَ الَّتِي أَشَارَت عَلَى النَّبِيِّ فِي الحُدَيبِيَّة وَرَوَت 378 حَدِيثًا وَعَاشَت أَطوَلَ مِن سَائِرِ زَوجَاتِ النَّبِيّ
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Umm Salamah (Hind bint Abi Umayyah ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumiyya; أُمُّ سَلَمَةَ، هِندُ بِنتُ أَبِي أُمَيَّةَ بنِ المُغِيرَةِ المَخزُومِيَّة; b. circa 580 CE; d. 59-62 AH / 678-681 CE; Mother of the Believers; from the Banu Makhzum of Quraysh — one of the most distinguished clans; married to Abu Salamah ibn Abd al-Assad [a leading early Muslim, one of the first to Abyssinia]; emigrated to Abyssinia with Abu Salamah; emigrated to Medina [separated from her husband and children at the Mecca gate — she describes waiting alone for a year at the city gate until her husband's clan relented and sent her son to her]; Abu Salamah died of his Uhud wound; the Prophet proposed to her after her 'iddah — she told him: 'I am a woman of jealous nature, I am old, and I have dependent children' — the Prophet answered each objection; her most famous act of counsel: at Hudaybiyya, when the Companions refused to obey the Prophet's command to shave and sacrifice [feeling the terms humiliating], Umm Salamah advised him to go out and do it himself without speaking to them — they followed; transmitted 378 hadith; also transmitted hadith on behalf of her children and other women; outlived all co-wives; last surviving Mother of the Believers; said to have lived to 84 or 90 years) is among the most intellectually prominent and politically consequential of the Mothers of the Believers.

The Hudaybiyya Counsel

At Hudaybiyya, after the Prophet concluded what the Companions considered a humiliating treaty, he commanded them to shave their heads and slaughter their sacrificial animals (signaling the end of the thwarted Umra). They sat frozen — none moved. The Prophet came to Umm Salamah in her tent in visible distress.

She assessed the situation and offered counsel: “Go out, O Prophet of God, and do not speak to any of them. Slaughter your animal and shave your head.” He did. The Companions saw him act alone and immediately followed.

Her judgment that the Companions’ paralysis was not defiance but shock — that they needed the cue of his action rather than another command — proved correct. This story is cited in classical fiqh as a precedent for the legitimacy of consulting women in matters of leadership.

Emigration and Separation

When the early Muslims emigrated to Medina, Umm Salamah’s in-laws (Banu Abd al-Assad) seized her husband’s right to take their son on the grounds that the child was from their tribe. She spent approximately a year sitting at the gate of Mecca weeping for the separation of her family — her husband in Medina, her son with in-laws, herself stranded at the city limits — until they relented.

The Prophet’s Proposal

After Abu Salamah’s death, the Prophet proposed marriage. Umm Salamah listed her concerns honestly: “I am jealous, I am old, I have small children who need care.” The Prophet answered: “I will ask God to remove the jealousy. As for your children, God and His Messenger will care for them.” She accepted.

See also: Seerah Hudaybiyya, Seerah Khadijah, Seerah Al Miswar Ibn Makhrama, Seerah Zaid Ibn Arqam, Seerah Jabir Ibn Samurah

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